“The Seam – stitching the void …” Proposed Inner City Park development for City of Johannesburg By Johan Barnard, co-authored with Graham A Young Newtown Landscape Architects cc

Introduction

One of the obstacles of post apartheid organisation of the landscape is obvious with the

proliferation of sprawling cities, gated enclaves and mega-malls. The true landscape –

open space - is more and more “internalized”, privatised and fenced off. Schumacher

and Rogner write about the extension of this dispersed system “fueled the rapid

decompression of urban industrial cities and the decentralisation of both mass

production and mass consumption”1.

Johannesburg has however, unlike many other ‘western’ cities where ‘decompression’

has become a major issue, been able to keep people flocking to its centre. In recent

years the City of Johannesburg have been addressing this urban sprawl and have been

refocusing on its centre. This has been supported by large institutions who choose to

maintain their corporate head quarters in the CBD as well as private developers

reinventing derelict buildings in response to ‘tax breaks’ offered on renewal projects.

The City has also been consistently spending money to improve the inner city in areas

such as urban park upgrades, transformation of Newtown and re-development around

transport nodes.

People are still flocking to the inner city to find work, engage, interact and even to find a

place to live. The CBD has 217 000 ‘official’ residents (a number that is growing

rapidly), many thousands of ‘unofficial’ residents and some 800 000 commuters who

enter the city every day. With the advent of the BRT this number would increase once

the Gautrain route ends at Park Station.

The inner city has changed dramatically due to these two opposing trends. Old office

buildings are being converted into residential units to accommodate the demand and

new residential units are being constructed, specifically in Newtown, on the western

edge of the CBD. Johannesburg’s CBD is instead ‘compressed’ and available land for

open space, is extremely elusive, over-utilized and mostly derelict. The only developed

park of reasonable size is Joubert Park, a green oasis in the middle of dense flatlands,

which houses a 100 year old glass Victorian conservatory and the 95 year old

Johannesburg Art Gallery. Five other recently upgraded inner city parks exist, but for

the most part, they are small and serve only the local neighbourhood. The bottom line is

1 Shane, G. 2003, The Emergence of “Landscape Urbanism” – Reflections on Stalking Detroit, Harvard

Design Magazine, Fall 2003/Winter 2004, Number 19.

that the Inner City of Johannesburg has a severe lack of open space and parks to cater

to the existing and rapidly increasing population. The lack of quality public space means

that parks are over-utilized and as a result, they rapidly degenerate. The City is well

aware of these inadequacies and is striving through its Charter on Public Spaces, to

significantly increase the amount of space available for quality public places. The

Charter also mandates that no person should walk more than 300 meters to find either

hard or soft public open space.

In September 2009, Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) in collaboration with

Johannesburg City Parks and Department of Planning and Urban Management, initiated

a design competition “to conceptualize and design a large inner city public urban park.

The growing residential densities within the inner city of Johannesburg coupled with the

lack of adequate green public open space, suggests the need for a large scale inner city

public park. … The vision for this park should be of the nature of Central Park in New

York”. The competition document also referred to the “Inner City Regeneration Charter”,

a strategic document which outlines how the CoJ will address issues of urban

regeneration, improved civic aesthetic, public appeal and economic development in the

inner city. The strategy cites as one of its six main principles, “Public spaces, art, culture

and heritage”. These references indicate that a new significant public park is a

necessary intervention and could be a catalyst for re-development, but where in

Johannesburg’s dense, ‘compressed’ and decaying CBD does one find a ‘void’ of this

scale and form to create the park? The sited example of Central Park in New York

would cover most of the existing CBD which would be impractical.

A relatively recent theory, “landscape urbanism” and its approach, advocates the

understanding of the challenges facing regeneration of decaying urban environments.

The opportunities presented by so called “brownfield sites” and reinterpreting existing

urban infrastructure provides a strategy to deal with our problem.

In The Landscape Urbanism Reader written by Charles Waldhiem “Landscape Urbanism

describes a disciplinary realignment currently underway in which landscape replaces

architecture as the basic building block of contemporary urbanism. For many, across a

range of disciplines, landscape has become both the lens through which the

contemporary city is represented and the medium through which it is constructed. 2”

Waldhiem sees landscape urbanism, as an interstitial design discipline, operating in the

spaces between buildings, infrastructural systems, but using an ecological approach.

Landscape architecture is very similar in it approach to planning and design initiated by

Design with Nature by Ian Mcharg and more recently Anne Whiston Spirn’s The Granite

Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design. Waldhien further advocates slow growth and

patience in cultivating a transformation or “new urban form” in these residual spaces.

2 Waldheim, C. [ed.] The Landscape Urbanism Reader, Princeton Architectural Press, New York. 2006 pp

11

Again, something very appropriate to our strategy of dealing with such a significant and

idealistic idea of a new inner city park. It would require the full participation of all

interested and affected parties: major, institutional landholders, commerce, governance

as well as the dispossessed and destitute).3

The idea of landscape urbanism requires us to re-interpret values and priorities of urban

design, seeing the opportunities locked in the so called “primacy of void over built form”.

We must celebrate change and indeterminacy over the “static” certainty of (defined)

architecture. Landscape urbanisms’ most appealing contribution form a Landscape

architects point of view in that it recalls nature’s restorative cycles and deliberately

include them to “work” in the city.4 Landscape architects, more than most other built

environment professional know that a tree can be a green circle, but the right type of tree

becomes a functional neucleus – a hive of activity; nesting site for birds, flowers for the

bees, “air conditioners” for the polluted area and a “pump” recycling nutrients in the

environment – after Ann Whinston-Spirn.

Large urban parks are increasingly integral to the sustainable development of cities.

They offer the urbanised environment an opportunity “to stake out new and unique

identities, promoting the peculiarities of local geography, ecology, history and cultural

quality of life. These large open spaces are seen by many city officials as fundamental to

assuring the competitive attractiveness of their cities, retaining and attracting new talent,

new residents and businesses, and promoting economic development5”.

Given this argument, the competition originators must be applauded for advocating the

essential, catalytic importance of a major inner city park but reference to ‘Central Park’

as the main indicator for the nature and form of the intervention, needs to be challenged!

In Abu Dabi the city is clearing a 200Ha site for just such an idealistic intervention. It

was done in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with the KLCC Park, but we felt we required a

more sympathetic approach – in line with South Africa’s contemporary realities.

“The planning and design of large urban parks must confront a number of significant

challenges, such as multiple competing stakeholders, phased financing, segmentation,

inaccessibility and difficult implementation, especially on brownfield or contaminated

sites. Consequently, the design of large parks today must inevitably be strategic and

time-based. Design initiatives cannot simply be willful, subjective or formal approaches,

3 Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, trans. D. Nicholson-Smith (New York:Zone Books, 1995) in

Shane, G. “The emergence of “Landscape Urbanism” Reflections on Stalking Detroit, Harvard Design

Magazine, Fall 2003/Winter 2004. 4 Ruth Durack, Director, Urban Design Centre of Northeast Ohio, “Shrinking Smart the promise of

Landscape Urbanism” in Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative Quarterly, 3:3/4 – Winter 2004:

http//www.cudc.kent.edu/e-cudc-Quarterly/viewpoint/durack4.html 5 Corner, J., Shelby Farms Park, One Park, One Million Trees, Twelve Landscapes, Topos. 2009, Volume

66 Landscape Strategies, 2009.

but need instead to be intelligent and flexible with regard to what is inevitably a complex

field of dynamic variables.”6

Case Study: THE SEAM

THE SEAM7 employs an approach that makes reference to landscape urbanism theory.

It requires identifying a series of voids at CBD wide scale and proposes that once the

voids have been created they should incrementally be reclaimed, remediated and

creatively stitched back into the dense urban fabric to be utilized by the citizens of the

city as places to recreate, socialize and safely move between districts.

THE SEAM (Figure 1) manifests itself as a linear system of parks that begins as a

natural ecosystem (Observatory Ridge), previously highlighted in JRA’s investigation in

the “green lung” or Ruth First Park. It then penetrates the urban fabric to the west along

a series of existing and some “carved voids”. It ultimately culminates on the western

side in Newtown – a heritage and cultural precinct (Figure 1a).

At the western end of Observatory Ridge, on a site with spectacular views across the

city and which has spiritual and cultural significance (gold was first sought along these

quartzite ridges and many religious groups congregate on the ridge), a proposed new

park, Observatory Hill Park, is proposed (Figures 2, 3 and 4). The park would also serve

as a catalyst for high density mixed-use development proposed along its northern edge.

The site would be the starting point for the development of the project and is significant

as the ridge line is the watershed between river systems that originate on the ridge and

flow either to the north, and ultimately the Indian Ocean or to the south, and the Atlantic

Ocean.

THE SEAM then steps down Observatory Ridge in an exciting series of exaggerated

steps already developed as the 3 Parks Project to meet with the Ellis Park Precinct and

the new redeveloped Sports Square8 linking with Johannesburg Stadium, which

consolidates public space between the two main stadiums (Images 5 and 6). Using

Observatory Ridge as a natural void, a series of new parks (voids) are also proposed to

stretch east down Bezuidenhout Valley and would be central to new high density

housing schemes. Some new neighbourhood parks have already been developed by

the JDA in this general area as is illustrated by Bertrams Road Park9 in Image 7.

6 Corner, J., Shelby Farms Park, One Park, One Million Trees, Twelve Landscapes, Topos. 2009, Volume

66 Landscape Strategies, 2009. 7 Innitial Competition entry by NLA + GreenInc + MRA a joint venture between Newtown Landscape

Architects cc and GreenInc landscape architects and Mashabane Rose Architects. 8 The precinct was designed by a joint venture comprising Albonico, Sack Mzumara Architects and Urban

Designers + MMA Architects + Newtown Landscape Architects. 9 Designed by Newtown Landscape Architects

Ellis Park Precinct is linked to a proposed new major park intervention at Doornfontein

Station through the westward extension of the precinct. The park space is integral to a

proposed high density residential and a mixed use development located south of the

railway line (on reclaimed industrial land) and a mixed use development proposed

adjacent to the park along its eastern edge. The development would include the recently

completed End Street Park10 along its western edge, a once dilapidated space which

has been transformed into a robust, colourful and somewhat enigmatic play park

(Images 8 and 9). This is one of five such spaces which have already been reclaimed

as green recreational spaces.

Travelling further west, the void, making use of the existing railway line, is reclaimed

using a landscaped deck structure that would connect Doornfontein Park to the

Johannesburg Art Museum and Joubert Park. Joubert Park is then linked to the new

Gautrain Station and Park Station precincts along Leyds Street. These are celebrated

as the ‘Gateway to Johannesburg’.

Again an infrastructural void, west of Park Station and above the existing railway lines, is

reclaimed and designed as a multi-function urban park precinct, which would provide

panoramic views to the west and south-west of the CBD. This has already been

identified by the CoJ’s Department of Local Economic Development who are currently

undertaking a feasibility study around this idea. This new precinct is ‘stitched back’ into

the old and new urban fabric as a ‘tapestry’11 (Figures 10 and10a) and becomes the

catalyst for mixed use developments (Figure 10b) on adjacent reclaimed brownfield sites

(programmed primarily as housing units) and sites along the southern edge of

Braamfontien (Figure 10c).

From this elevated position, THE SEAM steps down in a series of smaller, greener parks

designed on brownfields sites (Figures 11, 12 and 13), to culminate in a series of

squares and open spaces that already exist in Newtown Cultural Precinct.

The project would offer extraordinary opportunities for city residents to have access to

open space and networks of paths, squares and parks that could take hours to navigate

in there own time. It also offers distinct opportunities that would otherwise be impossible

in the compressed urban fabric of Johannesburg, allowing instead significant space for

extensive leisure, social, and recreational amenities.

10

The park was designed by Newtown Landscape Architects 11

After the first round of the competition four projects were short listed and the consortiums asked to

submit refined proposals after comment. THE SEAM did not advance past the first stage as (the author

believes) the organizers were still looking for a ‘Central Park’ type solution. Newtown Landscape

Architects were then asked to collaborate with MMA Architects + Fiona Garson Architect + Cohen &

Judin team as the lead landscape architect. The images for this section of park are from the ‘Urban

Tapestry’ proposal put forward by this new consortium. A competition winner was not announced but this

consortium’s entry was judged as being “the strongest and having the most chance of becoming feasible”.

THE SEAM employs an approach that entails defining and utilizing void to reclaim,

remediate and incrementally stitch back a newly created landscape into the existing and

proposed urban fabric. It builds upon existing energy, connecting heritage, cultural and

sports nodes with natural features to provide a generous and beautiful large-scale public

landscape for a broad constituency of public users. It would become a place to recreate,

socialize and safely move between areas. As such the park would become a leading-

edge model for the design and sustainable management of an inner city park system.

Image 1: Long term vision for THE SEAM inner city park connecting Observatory Ridge, a natural ridge (bottom of image) to Newtown, a cultural precinct (top of image)

Image 1a: Strategy for the THE SEAM, which will ultimately connect Observatory Ridge to Newtown Cultural Precinct through a number of park and urban space interventions.

Image 2: Observatory Park looking west to Ponte tower residential block

Image 3: Observatory Park looking east to historic water tower a landmark on Observatory Ridge

Image 4: Observatory Park looking west along the SEAM Centre towards Johannesburg’s CBD

Image 5: Ellis Park Precinct

Image 6: Ellis Park Precinct, water feature celebrating the source of the Jukskei River (Photo Solam Mkhabela)

Image 7: Bertrams Road School Park

Image 8 End Street Park in context

Image 9 End Street Park, playground detail

Image 10 Tapestry Competition Entry: Concept diagram

Image 10a Tapestry Concept that ‘stitches’ the park system into the urban fabric

Image 10b THE SEAM becomes the catalyst for mixed use developments (yellow in image) on adjacent reclaimed brownfield sites (programmed primarily as housing units) and sites along the southern edge of Braamfontein.

Image 11 Tapestry Competition Entry: Using the park as the integrated bridging device to connect Braamfontein with the CBD

Image 12 Tapestry Competition Entry: Access route through centre of the park

Image 12 Tapestry Competition Entry: Main circulation route connecting Braamfontein to Newtown.